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November 8, 2013

UBS Adds Merrill Advisor; NPC Recruits 2 Online

Reps move to NPC from Ameriprise and LPL via The Advisor Center, an online clearinghouse

UBS (UBS) said Thursday it recruited an advisor from Merrill Lynch (BAC) to join its Private Wealth Management office in Los Angeles.

Scott Harries and his team moved from Merrill Lynch’s Private Bank and Investment Group to UBS on Oct. 29 with about $500 million in client assets. Harries had been with Merrill since 2000, after working for 12 years with Goldman Sachs in the private-client business.

Last week, UBS said it had recruited 11 Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC) advisors in Southern California with a total of about $4.9 billion in client assets.

In other news, National Planning Corporation recently recruited an advisor formerly affiliated with Ameriprise Financial (AMP) and a rep who worked with LPL Financial (LPLA). The two advisors used The Advisor Center, a website for FAs looking to switch firms, to affiliate with NPC.

The Advisor Center said Wednesday that Robert Milan, previously affiliated with Ameriprise, is now working with NPC out of his office in Canton, Ohio. The broker that moved from LPL chose not to disclose his name and location; he had been affiliated with LPL for 22 years.

Since its start in December 2012, The Advisor Center has helped 14 advisors “streamline the search process” and change affiliations by using its website; these reps had more than $5.2 million in yearly fees and commissions, the group says.

“NPC is pleased to welcome these new advisors to our broker-dealer,” said NPC President and CEO John Johnson, in a press release. “We joined The Advisor Center community for precisely this outcome — to engage with advisors on their desired back-office support and technology needs, determine if we are a right fit and dramatically shorten the recruiting cycle.”

On The Advisor Center, advisors create anonymous profiles that get validated by the group. These are shared with the website's partners, including LPL Financial, Pershing Advisor Solutions, Cetera Financial Group, Commonwealth Financial Network and TD Ameritrade (AMTD).

“I was drawn to The Advisor Center’s centralized platform for exploring a variety of firm offerings and appreciated their attentive customer service when I reached out with questions,” said Milan, who manages some $11 million in client assets. “I couldn’t be more pleased that my search led me, and ultimately my clients, to NPC, which has the right innovative tools and solutions to help me build my business.”

The Advisor Center is led by Tom Daley, who has more than 25 years in the business. He spent more than 10 years at LPL, where he recruited advisors with about $250 million in annual production, after starting his career at American Express.)

“We’ve made our process as easy as possible for everyone involved,” said Daley, in a statement. “Our platform is simple enough to navigate without much additional instruction, but we are also able to provide an advisor with step-by-step guidance throughout their transition, if they so desire. These advisors might still be going through the transition process, had they not found The Advisor Center.”

NPC has about 1,400 affiliated advisors. It is part of National Planning Holdings, which includes four independent broker-dealers with roughly 3,500 reps and is part of the Prudential plc-owned (PUK) Jackson National Life Insurance Co.

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